Drunk man steals beer

A Tullamore man who stole a box of 24 bottles of beer told gardaí “I was drunk and I’m sorry” when he was charged with the theft at Tesco, Mullingar on August 24 this year.

Inspector Jarlath Folan told Mullingar District Court that gardaí attended Tesco at 10pm and spoke to security guards there. They were able to identify Oliver Murray who walked out of the store with 24 bottles of Miller valued at €19.99.

The goods were not recovered.

Thirty-three-year-old Mr Murray, from Mucklagh, Tullamore who is serving a two month sentence imposed earlier at Mullingar District Court, was sentenced also for assaulting the French owner of a B&B in Tullamore in January of this year.

Garda Robert Fahy gave details of the incident which occurred at 6.10am when he was called to the B&B by Jean Pierre Voisin.

There were marks on Mr Voisin’s face and bite marks on his fingers. Damage had also been done to a door and to a Siemens 610 phone.

He said Mr Murray became agitated and aggressive when gardaí approached him.

Mr John Quinn said his client had been there for six months and Mr Voisin took issue with Mr Murray having an end of season party without permission. Mr Murray had taken alcohol at the time.

At a hearing in Tullamore District Court on July 30, Mr Murray had been ordered to return the next day with €1,300 compensation but he failed to do so.

At Mullingar last week, Judge Neilan also imposed a five month sentence each for the assault and the criminal damage to Mr Voisin’s property and ordered that they run concurrent to the sentence he is currently serving.